Early R&B
tagStarted mid-1940sPeak 1948–1956Last big hit early 1960s
Early R&B widens jump blues into a fuller postwar Black pop spectrum: stronger backbeat, more diverse tempos, ballads alongside stompers, and vocals ranging from cool croon to ecstatic shout. The music still carries obvious blues DNA, but it is now squarely aiming at charts, radio, and broader crossover.
History
As the 1940s turned into the 1950s, jump-blues patterns evolved into the category that Billboard and labels increasingly called rhythm and blues. Louis Jordan and Ruth Brown were foundational, but Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, and Little Willie John showed how quickly the form could expand toward doo-wop, soul, and rock and roll.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica on jump blues and first-wave rhythm and blues
- Rock Hall on Louis Jordan’s jump-blues role
- Britannica on Big Joe Turner and the shouter tradition